JCC Softball Cincinnati

 

August 12 Recap

by Marc Brafman

 

On a hot and muggy night at Triple Creek we had 6 teams in action.

 

On Field One playing in front of a packed grandstand of Wolf family members, the game came down to the final batter as Team Brafman beat Team Weisser in walk-off fashion 11-10. In a back-and-forth game that was more of a pitchers’ and fielding duel than the final score would indicate, Team Brafman won on a walk-off bases-loaded hit by Weston “Hungry Like A” Wolf. 

 

With some clutch hitting by the usual suspects of David Wertheim and birthday boy Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris, along with a big two-run single by Dee Harris and a very effective pitching performance by Brad Wagner, Team Weisser took a two-run lead into the bottom of the 7th. Team Brafman came off the mat quickly with hits by Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot and Weston. With one out, Coach Brafman had a big decision to make: pinch hit for Brandon “The Bird” Wolf with the speedster Travis Jankowski or stick with Wolf. “I figured with the game possibly going to extra innings I needed to keep my best players on the field,” Brafman said (a novel concept). Tonight, that was the right call as Wolf smoked a game tying double to LC to even the score. But Wagner pitched out of a jam and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 8^th, Wertheim and Harris not only got hits but scored runs using their youth and speed to again put Team Weisser up two. 

 

Which brings us to the fateful bottom of the 8th. Duffy “Clap at the” Wolf(man) led off with a walk. One out later, Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley singled and after a walk of Weisbrot and a pop out, Coach Brafman had another interesting choice to make. Should he let Weston Wolf hit or pinch hit for him with the ageless wonder Christian Colon who has 3 hits all season but has only struck out 3 times? “My front office has left me with many choices to make or not make,” Brafman said. “With a DH this season and runs hard to come by, I figured that I’d rather have one of the best hitters over the last 10 JCC seasons hit than a guy who spent all year last year in AAA playing in the Columbus JCC league. Again, that proved to be the right call as Wolf lofted a ball to right that scored all three runs as Weisbrot scored just under the throw from RF. “After a very tough Sunday sweep it was nice to get back to the winning side of things,” Brafman said post game. We are 1-0 in the second half. Brafman would go on to say that we couldn’t have won this game without the fielding of Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf in RC, “The Hitman” Sam Hecht in RF, and Scott “Dire” Wolf at 2nd along with Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem behind the plate keeping us in the game. A true team win.” 

 

Meanwhile on Field Three, Joel “Sparky” Fogel continues to lead his team to wins, this time over the talented Team Schwartz:

Team Fogel got off to a 7-0 lead scoring 7 runs in the first and added on over the next 2 innings taking a 10-1 lead.  Team Schwartz’s bats woke up scoring 5 in the 4^th on the strength of a grand slam by Adam Cronstein.  The momentum was shifting as Fogel’s bats shut down and the lead was dwindling.  With Fogel up 11-9 in the top of the 9^th, Jeremy Fogel led off with a walk, moved to 2^nd on a long fly ball by Dan Gilbert and scored on Mike Gray’s single.  This proved to be a big run because Schwartz came back in the bottom of the 7^th scoring 2 to draw within 1 but couldn’t get that final run home.  Final score Fogel 12- Schwartz 11. “I’m too old for this type of game,” Fogel said post game. “I didn’t come back to captain this year for games where we almost blow a 9-run lead. I’m just glad we were able to hold on in the end.” 

 

Finally, over on Field Four, Team Groh defeated Team Lefton: The Birthday Boy Ken Groh checks in:

Team Lefton started off the top of the 1st by scoring 5 runs and Groh still is scratching his head on how that happened. “All I know is I struck out a guy who ended up at 3rd”. But the team just kept fighting and received some extra outs along the way that really helped. Groh scored 3 in the 1st and 4 more in the 2nd to take a 7-5 lead that they never gave back. The squad scored multiple runs every inning. Zac Swadner played an amazing 3B and scored 4 runs. “Handsome” Sam Castellini had 4 hits and had 2 RBIs. Reigning MVP Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury had 2 doubles and a homerun and drove in 6 runs. The captain went 4-4 on the last day of year 44 for him also driving in 4 runs. Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn, Bryce Anslinger and Nick Depiano all had 3 hits each and combined to have 4 triples. David “BP” Snyder made 5 defensive plays and Mark Franklin who played his 1st game at catcher did well as the coach said that his dad would be proud. The team is looking forward to the 2nd half and is looking forward to Wednesday’s matchup vs the 1st half champs.   

 

League Notes:

Ken also checks in with an update on his trip to Columbus to see Jason Faust: “I spent 2 nights visiting Jason Faust and I am pleased at his progress and his attitude. He is happy to be home with his wife and 2 boys and can do physical therapy at his home. He is very appreciative of all the support he has got from the softball league and told me he thinks he could pitch by the playoffs! Fighting spirit except I kicked his butt playing video games lol. I have to admit his 5-year-old son was better at hockey then his dad!” 

 

Not only can you find the best Facebook political commentary this side of Mother Jones from David “The Doctor of Style” Weil but he now also has started growing pot in his garden. Not that he or I would know what that looks like.

 

It’s good to know what the JCC values in their sporting equipment as last Sunday I was pitching some balls to my son Jacob post game. James “Lynn” Swan was waiting for what I thought were the balls. “No,” he said. “I don’t care about the balls. You can keep those. I just need the bucket back.” So, note to all of you…the balls you can have, but the bucket is only for the J.

 

I have unconfirmed reports that after the game last night Eppy ate a couple of chicken wings that had been hiding in Steve Zawatsky’s beard since two weeks ago at the Silver Spring House.

 

With the very sad news that the Big Ten postponed their football season Alex “Earl Bruce” Lefton reported on what was on the minds of most Big Ten and OSU fans from Columbus. A National Championship without the most historic power conference will be suspect. They’ve (The Big Ten) been in every title game since the BCS started except in: 20,19,18,17,16,14,13,12,11,10,09,06,05,04,02,01,00 and 99.

 

On that note, a personal plea from me to all of you. Please wear your mask when you are out and about and tell all your college-loving sports fans to do the same. We as a country have messed up sports enough this year to help keep what we still have (UC football (at least today) SEC, Big 12 and ACC sports, high school sports and the Bungles and Reds). Do your part, don’t be a dope, put on a mask when you go out. I will now get off my soap box.

 

In this week’s “Catching Up With” I caught up with Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen last week. Eric is using his time away from softball to play an obscene amount of golf (rivaling only Tiger Woods and Trump) and being the best dad he can be to his three kids while lamenting the fact he can’t go to Disney. “Of all the things I miss that Covid has taken away from me the ability to get a picture with Elsa and Anna from Frozen ranks right up there.” He wants everyone to know that he, along with his mouth and bunting ability, will be back next year.

 

Finally, this week in Fun Facts that Roger has learned since he isn’t playing softball. As you guys know, I’ve been following the news closer than ever and with all the news about the post office and people being able to vote through the mail being front and center this week.  Did you know that the first bag of mail to travel by air (hot air balloon) was from Cincinnati in 1835? Roger also wanted me to mention that he has plenty of Felipe Lopez, Matt Latos, and Wily Mo Pena bobbleheads available for you to purchase if you’d like. 

 

See everyone on the field next week. Stay safe wear a mask!!

 

August 9 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

The morning was hot and so was the action on the field. As Ernie Banks used to say “Let’s Play Two” on Sunday at Triple Creek.

 

It was a tale of 3 teams as both Lefton and Loon swept their action on Sunday while Team Brafman was on the other end of the spectrum by being swept. Let’s go to the action.

 

On Field 1, Team Lefton ended the first half at 4-2. In game one they beat a depleted Team Fogel 14-4. Lefton was led by super Sub Alex “Earl Bruce” Lefton who went 7-8 for the day. “We hit up and down our order for the second game in a row, and even with a shorter game scoring 14 runs is a lot. I Was really proud of the effort we gave,” Captain Jimmy Lefton said. In game two, Team Lefton beat Team Weisser in a back and forth game 9-8. With the score tied in the bottom of the fifth Rookie of the Year Candidate Jacob Zeidenstein hit a walk off single for the win. “Man, I’m just excited to help the team,” JZ said post game. “I haven’t been this pumped about anything since Grace Lefton invited me over to one of Rick’s selfie stations that he had set up at their house this summer. I know that it’s important to not only play well but look good when you play on Lefton so that game winning single really helped my profile.”  

 

On Field 3, it was a tough day for Team Brafman who lost in walk off fashion to Team Schwartz in game one 11-10, and then lost another tough game to Team Fogel 11-8 in the second game. In the first game it was back and forth all game as Schwartz was led on offense by Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you and Randy “Tex” Broyles who each had 3 singles. Not to be overlooked was the hitting of Eric “Jeter” Goldstein who had a couple of knocks and got on base with a walk. The game took a turn in the top of the 4th when Sam “The Hitman” Hecht had a huge two-run single to put Brafman up by a run. In the top of the 5th Jeff “The Natural” Weisbrot then hit a two-run homer for Brafman to put them up 3 going to the bottom of the 5th. That is when Team Schwartz mounted a comeback. 

With one out Goldstein walked, Schwartz singled and Cronstein walked. After a Broyles fielder’s choice, Harry “Hood” Meisner was walked intentionally by Capt. Brafman to load the bases and set up the force out. That move backfired when Corey Schwartz smoked a game winning single up the middle scoring the go-ahead run from first. “That move showed so much disrespect for my brother. I don’t know what Brafman was thinking,” an elated Taylor said post game. “I haven’t been this excited since Leon brought me my favorite PB&J Sandwich with the crust off just how I like it when we lived together. What a great win for our team.”  “I now know how David Bell feels,” a dejected Brafman said post game. “If Corey had made an out, I would have looked like Sparky Anderson. Instead he made me look like Vern Rapp.”

 

In game two on Field 3, Team Fogel, with Ken Groh subbing as pitcher, held Brafman in check to win 11-8. Fogel once again beat Brafman with death by a 1000 paper cuts approach on offense when the top of his order led by Mark Simons, Ken Groh, and Adam Knecht each had multiple hits. It was a back-and-forth game until the top of the 3rd when Fogel once again got multiple runs with singles and well-placed balls led by Eddie Gallop who capped off the inning with a single and scored on a couple of hits. Brafman showed the fighting spirit they have shown all season battling back to put the winning run at the plate, but Groh was able to snuff out the late rally. 

 

Finally, over on Field 4 Team Loon relied on great defense and crafty veteran Jamey Kurtzer to sweep the DH and move to a league best 4-1. In Game 1 vs Team Groh, the offense was led by Shorty Adams and professional hitter, Keith Kombrinck. Defensively, Fink was a vacuum at SS all day and seemed inspired to play in front of his wife and two kids.

 

In game 2 vs Team Schwartz, Mark Tenenholtz took matters into his own hands with 2 HRs (over the fence). The first was a 2-run bomb, and the second was a Grand Slam which gave Team Loon some breathing room in a 12-6 victory. Mark also added a couple of diving catches to snuff out rallies and Jamey did the rest. “I have to stick up for Big Blue Nation,” Tenenholtz said post game. “Sure, our football coaches called out Big Brother OSU on a coaches conference call for cheating, and sure our best point guard couldn’t get out of town fast enough to transfer UC, so someone has to stand up for Michigan Sports, and today that guy was ME!” 

 

With the sweep, Team Loon clinches the first half of the season with their record currently standing at 4-1.

 

See you all on Wednesday!

 

August 5 Recap

By Marc Brafman

It was another great night of softball action last night. Let’s get right to the action:

Team Fogel got back on the winning side of things evening its record to 2-2.  Mike Gray was masterful hitting his spots all night and the offense was led by Jeremy Fogel, who was a home run shy of the cycle.  Subs Gary Grefer and Randy Broyles both produced in a big way and the team defense was solid.  Both father and son Gallop had huge bunts. When you think of all the great father/son combo’s in baseball history (Bonds, Griffey, Bell) the Gallop name should be right there with them.  All that work in the instructional league has paid off.  Final score was Fogel 8 Loon 4  

Meanwhile, Ken Groh got his team back on the winning side last night as well.

Team Weisser started the scoring early as Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris had an RBI triple to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the 1st Groh, Anslinger and Ryan Baum had consecutive two-out hits to put the home team up 3-1. Gig and Mark Franklin started off the 2nd with hits and Swadner, Soltesz, Stansbury and Sam Castellini all drove in runs to up the lead to 7-2. Baum 3-3 Kahn 2-2 and Depiano 2-3 all scored in the 3rd as the lead swelled to 10-2 after 3 innings. Both teams scored solo runs the rest of the way as Tyler Stansbury came in to close the game out in the 7th for the 13-6 win. Coach Groh was pleased as 8 players had multiple hits and 9 guys drove in runs. Swadner, Stansbury and Kahn led the defense as Soltesz and Baum paced the offense.   

Finally, on Field 4 Team Lefton laid the wood to Team Brafman 14-1. If there was ever a softball game with a score of 14-1 that wasn’t even that close it was last night. Lefton scored all those runs without the benefit of more than 1 extra base hit. Using the old Wee Willy Keeler line of “hitting them where they ain’t, Lefton was paced by rookie leadoff man Jacob Zeidenstein, sub Taylor “May the” Schwartz be with you and pretty much the rest of their lineup who hit the ball to all fields. “We had our hitting shoes on tonight,” Lefton said post game. “We showed patience at the plate and really put good ‘wood’ on the ball all night. When your entire team hits the ball it makes it easy to pitch.” Jimmy kept the normally potent Team Brafman offense in check all night as he cruised through the game with very few hard-hit balls. “I could have caught Jimmy in a rocking chair,” Rick Lefton commented. “Whatever sign I put down he hit his spots and it was an easy night for me.” “Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the other team,” dejected and frustrated Brafman said post game. “We will come back on Sunday and get back at it.” Team Brafman did make a couple of nice plays in the field with “The Hitman” Sam Hecht and Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem making nice plays at 2nd and Jacob “Hallelujah” Buckley continuing his gold glove work at 3rd. Lefton improves to 2-2 on the season while Brafman falls to 2-2.

League Notes:

Not only did Jeremy “Hamilton” Fogel almost hit for the cycle but Brooke Fogel is now doing modeling here in town. I couldn’t be prouder of my kids Sparky said post game.

Leave it to Mr. Selfie, Rick Lefton, to already find his cutout picture down at GABP. “When I heard about this, I knew it was for me,” Lefton said. “I have what 8-9 kids at home (I lose count) and combined none of them take as many selfies as I do, so it was only natural that I put my mug on one of the seats.” 

Ken Groh is taking his life into his own hands this weekend by venturing up to Columbus to help with Jason “The Mad Hungarian” Faust and his recovery efforts. “I’ve been told that Jason needs daily sponge baths and I’m only too happy to provide the loving care and touch that he will need.” (All kidding aside, it’s a great thing that Ken is doing and Jason is on the mend and getting stronger every day)

The future of the league is in good hands as Ryan “The Hebrew Hammer” Baum and Bryce Anslinger joined the long list of dads in the league that are coaching their sons in little league. Let’s hope that in 15 years we are all still playing to see the next wave of sons and dads playing together 

This week I caught up with Aaron “Straight Outta” Compton to check in and see what he has been up to. Since last season Aaron had knee surgery on his other knee and is feeling good. He’s been spending time with his family and misses being out on the field. Hopefully we’ll see Aaron back on the diamond next season.

You know you have a good brother-in-law (Sam Hecht) when he texts you on Monday to inform you that Summer Slam 1992 was on Fox Sports 1. Who doesn’t want to re-watch the Ultimate Warrior take on Randy Savage? 

In this week’s installment of What has Roger Learned since he isn’t playing softball and keeping with the wrestling theme-Being the huge WW(E)F wrestling fan that I am, I found it interesting that Angelo Poffo the father of both Randy” Macho Man Savage and “The Genius” Leapin’ Lanny Poffo once held the sit up record.  In 1945, [1] He completed 6,033 sit-ups in four hours and ten minutes. According to his son Lanny, after 6,000 sit-ups he did 33 more, one for each year of Jesus Christ‘s life. “I wish the WWE Would do a three-headed bobblehead to showcase these amazing athletes,” Roger said. (FYI…I do have a couple of Jesus bobble heads if anyone is interested) 

Finally, I think we ALL owe a big JCC softball tip of the cap to the Commish Rick Tenenholtz for all the hard work he’s put into this crazy season. If all goes well, we will soon finish the first half of the season safely and with minimal interruption and it’s in no small part to his leadership. 

See everyone bright and early on Sunday. Stay safe!

July 29 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

It was a full night of softball for only the second time all season last night, and what an eventful night we all had. 

 

On field one, Team Weisser defeated Team Schwartz 14-4. With the score knotted at 2-2, Team Weisser exploded for 9 runs in the 5th to put the game away. The usual suspects of David Wertheim and Griff “Benedict Arnold” Harris had big hits, but the big blow came from an unlikely source as Ben Margolis had a bases clearing double. Meanwhile, the crafty vet Mark “Eddie Harris” Weisser kept team Schwartz off balance all night with his usual combination of suntan lotion, WD40 and Burt’s Bee’s lip gloss making the ball dance all night. “Our team motto is whatever it takes to win we are going to do,” Weisser said last night as he nearly slipped off the bench post game. “We play to win…”

 

On Field 3, making their return to the league Team Anton beat Team Lefton 15-10 to remain undefeated.  The key hit in the game came after Jimmy intentionally walked Loon to load the bases for Matt Brodof who promptly cleared them with a double to deep left. Team Loon kept trying to pull away but Lefton kept pecking away at the lead. Mark Tenenholtz hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of 6 to provide some breathing room, and Jamey shut the door in the 7th to secure the W.  “It was great to be back out there,” Anton said. “I’m happy to report that I’m healthy (as is my family) and I look forward to driving our team to the first-half title.” 

 

Finally, on Field 4 Team Brafman defeated Team Groh 18-8. As has been their MO all season, this was a total team effort from Team Brafman, which had all 12 guys get at least one hit. The big blows came from the Wolf Pack as Weston “Hungry Like a” Wolf, Duffy “Howl at the Wolf(pack)”, and Scott “Dire” Wolf all came through with big hits. None though were as big as Tyler “Big Bad” Wolf who had a 3-run homer to break the game open in the top of the 7th. Not to be overlooked, Brandon “The Bird” Wolf pitched a very good game and most impressively kept Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury from doing his normal thing at the plate. While I love the thunder at the plate that the Wolf’s bring each game I’d be remiss not to mention a couple of other guys that contributed last night. Andy “Snow Boots” Heldman dropped down a perfect bunt single to drive in a run, Sam “The Hitman” Hecht had two RBI’s by simply putting the ball in play and Zach “The Wild Horse” Zakem also had 3 hits. “Those plays are just as important as the hits,” Brafman said. Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley continues his sterling play at 3rd base for Team Brafman and is making a strong case for the Gold Glove. 

 

League notes:

 

Like all college students that have been forced to live at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, none are as ready to move out as Griff. First, he trades in his Bearcats black and red for the Scarlet and Grey of OSU, but he told me last week he is ready to move out. “Sure it’s nice to have all of my meals provided for me, my laundry done, my car gassed up,  free TV with all of the channels paid for and a clean bathroom, but come on! I’m moving in with a couple of guys who have a futon and I’m told ramen noodles are really good 6 days a week…”

 

A tip of the JCC ball cap to Scott “You’ve Got a” Friend in Me who saved his family and house from potential disaster when he smelled out a fire that had started outside his house a couple of weeks ago. Everyone is fine and the house is still standing. Way to go Scott. 

 

Editor’s note… a couple of weeks ago I incorrectly referred to  Drew “Kung Fu” Brown as Drew Hayes. Sorry about that slight Drew.

 

Brandon Wolf is leading his best life by knowing guys with boats. If you want to watch some solid boat videos, I suggest you check out Brandon’s Facebook page.

 

“Handsome” Sam Castellini is one of the few non-Jewish guys in the league (it’s amazing we let him hang around with us). This week he is going to get a full dose of what we all live with when the brigade of Jewish moms (full disclosure…it will be led by my wife) bombard his inbox at the JCC with requests to keep the outdoor pool open a couple of weeks later than normal. Sam, take it from us…good luck with that…

 

Jacob Stadiem, orthodontist to the stars, recently posted a picture on his page with JCC softball legends Stu Solomon and Michael Kahan bragging about his work on their teeth. Of course, because of COVID we will have to take his word for it since all 3 of them were wearing masks. Although let’s be honest, any cosmetic work on Stu would be an improvement.

 

Speaking of Stu, in this week’s Catching Up With I’ll let Stu himself explain what he’s been doing this spring/summer without softball:

 

This spring/summer has been interesting. On April 4th, my daughter, Anna Elizabeth was born. This was in the early stages of the pandemic and it was just eerie. I had been at home, alone, self-quarantining due to working in the healthcare field in anticipation of her birth. After she was born, I took off a week of work to be with everyone. Once I had to go back to work, we felt it was safest for me to live at my parents’ house for the foreseeable future. I spent 7 weeks at my parents only seeing my family on our porch. It was not the most ideal situation but a few days after I moved home, there was a positive case at work. Luckily, I hadn’t unpacked completely and left to stay at an Air BNB until we got our negative results.

 

Since that point, we have been free and clear. I am at home with my family. My daughter, who is almost 4 months, sleeps pretty well through the night. Instead of softball for my social and physical outlet, I have been playing more golf. The rest of the summer will be spent watching sports start, then stop, then start again.

 

Thanks for sharing Stu glad everyone is healthy and safe

 

And finally, in this week’s What has Roger learned this week since he’s not playing softball: The only two countries in the World where you can’t buy a Coke are Cuba and North Korea due to the US trade embargo. Interestingly, Roger does report that you can buy bobbleheads of both Castro and his brother Raul, and Kim Jong-Un would be happy to sell you one in or out of the box. 

 

Stay safe everyone. See ya on the field next week!